Our Cat Philip, The Damn Yous, Moon High

We're going to start doing more local album/single reviews in The Other Paper. They'll usually be shorter than the regular 400-wordish reviews, but it should still give a good overview. You can find this week's full installment here, and here's just my two below, plus a short show preview I wrote for the Moon High show at Carabar on Saturday. I'll unfortunately be out of town for it, but you should go.

Our Cat Philip - Apart of Someone
I didn’t know much about Our Cat Philip until I saw the youngsters open up for Ha Ha Tonka and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin a couple of weeks ago, but the performance put the band atop my local-bands-to-pursue-further list. After listening to the group’s debut full-length, Apart of Someone, I’m officially down with OCP. And if you’re able to embrace your inner twee, you’ll be down, too.

Singer Max Sollisch’s quivering tenor (see: John Darnielle) is a quirky counterpoint to the folky melodies created by banjo, pianos (both the plinking toy variety and a grown-up version) and graceful string arrangements. The album, which sounds distinctly different from typically scuzzy Columbus offerings, isn’t quite as zippy as the band’s live show, and the record could stand a few more injections of that twee playfulness the group does so well; Our Cat Philip is at its best when embracing its inner oddities.

But the heart-on-sleeve mellow numbers are nice in small doses—“Like Movies” and “Dana” are particularly fetching ballads. No doubt other fledgling locals will be jealous of a debut like Apart of Someone.

mp3: Our Cat Philip - Like Movies (more freebies available on the band's myspace page)

The Damn Yous
The Damn Yous’ self-titled 7-inch is out on Burnt Sienna Records, which released stuff by Pretty Mighty Mighty back in the day. The accompanying press release describes the band as “fast columbus, oh punk raunch and roll,” and that’s a pretty fitting description. The trio takes the punk fury of Columbus’s New Bomb Turks and adds a hefty dose of Motorhead metal.

Here’s what the Damn Yous do well: raw power, especially on B-side “Suicide Squeeze,” a lo-fi beast that finds the drummer pounding furiously to keep up with the guitar, like a foaming pit bull fighting one of its own, Michael Vick-style.

Here’s what they don’t do well: songwriting and titling. Side A is “Anal Pledge” and “Cock Fight,” neither of which would be out of place on a Spinal Tap track list, but I doubt this is similarly tongue-in-cheek. Either way, these blink-and-they’re-gone songs probably work better in a dingy rock club than on vinyl.

Moon High
Saturday, Aug. 29, Carabar
Like Our Cat Philip, Moon High is a Columbus band playing music utterly different from most Columbus bands. I’ve really been digging the band’s self-titled debut—a moody, folk pastiche full of mournful, pretty songs that bring to mind a less flamboyant Sufjan Stevens. There’s enough going on to appeal to the freak-folk crowd, but it’s restrained enough to appease those who don’t like their folk too freaky. The band also sets the mood nicely at live shows, with big, glowing globes. Rounding out the bill are some other great bands that would make the show worth an outing on their own: Church of the Red Museum, Rosehips and Deerhead.

mp3: Moon High - Lying Here, Dying Here (stream the full album at the Moon High website)